Last Updated on May 20, 2025 7:09 am by Anthony Kates | Published: May 20, 2025

We’re now at the point of the Minor League season where teams are more seriously looking at promotions for the players performing above expectations. After all, there’s usually little point in letting a player tee off against competition they don’t find challenging.

Of course, the stark change to the difficulty of opposition they face can sometimes quickly derail the hype train that was driving a player’s rise in value. On the other hand, if the player continues excelling – or even, perhaps, improves – then you have a clearer picture of the true skill level you’re dealing with. Teams do need to be careful not to rush the player as well, but testing their limits is certainly instructive.

Our first two players below exemplify this thought process, with the first being on the most-extreme end, having already climbed three levels in the first two months of the season.

The usual preamble;

This article will come out every two weeks, highlighting the ten most noteworthy performances for MiLB players during that window.  The players discussed will come from a mix of levels (Triple-A, Low-A, etc.) and because of that, I will attempt to contextualize their statistics for both the quality of competition, as well as the player’s own age, to the best of my abilities. In other words, a 25-year old slugger going on a home run binge isn’t going to get my attention if they’re facing off against a 20-year-old pitcher on a daily basis. On the other hand, an 18-year-old holding their own against more advanced pitching is going to skyrocket them towards the top of the rankings very quickly.

Since we could go as deep into the minors as the Complex and Dominican Summer Leagues, this is intended as more of a companion article for deep dynasty leagues, as opposed to those that shallow enough to essentially just focus on players listed on Top 100 lists.This is more for the sickos who want to be able to brag about having the next Jesus Made or Jung Hoo Lee on their roster more than five years before they make their MLB debut.

That said, there’s a chance some of our mining leads to some true diamonds in the rough emerging – just look to what Kristian Campbell did last year for example. So with that in mind, I will have a specific section of each article that focuses on how the upper echelon of prospects is performing, in addition to geeking out over the future wave of breakout stars. And as we go through the season, I’ll denote each player written about as one of three categories;

Golden 🥇 (the best of the best)

Gems 💎 (exciting up-and-comers)

Unrefined ⚒ (has tools of interest)

As the weeks go by, I’ll track each player and how many times they appear in the article under each category in a chart at the bottom. Hopefully by year’s end we’ll then have rough ranking of the most interesting players from each tier as a guideline that you can then use for your own dynasty purposes!

Statistics are up to date as of May 18th.

Sean Linan – SP – LAD 💎

Last 14 Days: 11.2 IP – 1.54 ERA/3.78 FIP/1.46 WHIP – 14:9 K:BB – 0 HR (A/A+/AAA)

Season: 37.1 IP – 1.45 ERA/2.47 FIP/0.96 WHIP – 59:15 K:BB – 1 HR (A/A+/AAA)

No, that isn’t a typo in the section where I list the player’s level. Just two weeks ago, Linan was still plying his trade at Single-A; a reasonable assignment for a 20-year-old. But after just one start at High-A in which he went four scoreless innings, striking out three, Linan jumped not one, but two more levels – all the way up to Triple-A where he made his debut over the weekend, going 3.2 innings and allowing two runs on four walks and six strikeouts.

You really can’t push a pitcher more than what the Dodgers have just done here but Linan responded admirably in what must have been his most high-pressure start to date in his career. His six strikeouts now bring him to 59 in 37.1 innings across three levels, tied for fourth most among all pitchers in the minors. The next youngest player with the same amount of strikeouts or more is the aforementioned Jonah Tong, who was born in June 2003. Linan, on the other hand, is almost a year-and-a-half younger, being born in November 2004.

This type of aggressive assignment can sometimes backfire when done with hitters (looking at you, Ethan Salas) but with young pitchers, it’s sometimes more worthwhile to see how quickly you can get them contributing at the major league level. After all, the attrition rate on pitching prospects has always been sky high. Linan isn’t a big velo guy, however, relying more on his plus changeup, so the hope is that he’s less likely to blow out than a flamethrower.

The Dodgers are frequently improvisational when it comes to their rotation but I doubt they’d be bold enough to put Linan out there as a starter this season. That said, he could be a surprise bullpen weapon in September if everything continues clicking as it has.

A.J. Ewing – 2B/OF – NYM 💎

Last 14 Days: .386/.471/.636 – 1HR/11SB – .498 wOBA – .250 ISO – 212 wRC+ (A+)

Season: .381/.477/.587 – 2HR/27SB – .486 wOBA – .206 ISO – 194 wRC+ (A/A+)

“Sure, Ewing has been incredible this season but let’s see what he can do when he faces some tougher competition at a higher level.”

You fool. You imbecile.

In all seriousness, what Ewing has done in 2025 has already been wildly impressive but to actually improve your line from that already-high statistical bar once promoted? As discussed up top, that’s the sign of a prospect who’s going to be rocketing up rankings over the course of the summer.

Though he’s still not showing much on the power front, since being promoted to High-A, Ewing has continued exhibiting an strong batting eye at the plate, striking out just 18.6% of the time compared to a 12.9% walk rate, showing he’s far from overmatched. And while he’s been next to a zero in the home run department as mentioned, he’s used his plus speed to contribute five doubles and two triples in 61 at-bats at High-A, which has pushed his ISO to a strong .197 mark even with just the one long ball on his ledger. Of course, that speed has also manifested in plenty of stolen bases with Ewing now carrying a 27:4 SB:CS rate on the season.

Prior to the season, FanGraphs graded Ewing’s Game Power as a 50 and his Raw Power as a 55, so even though he’s currently listed at a diminutive 5’11” and 160lbs, there’s belief that he’ll grow into league-average power in the future. At that time, he was also rated with just a 40-grade hit tool but I think that’s looking like at least a 50-grade tool at present so he’s looking even more likely to be able to eventually get to that power in games.

Probably a little early to make this call, but screw it, I’ll call my shot – I’m seeing shades of Altuve-lite here.

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Jeff Clowers

• "The Dynasty Diamond": May 20th
• Working The Waiver Wire: May 16th
• Working The Waiver Wire: May 9th